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How people view the status of
religions other than their own

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Overview:

According to David Barrett et al, editors of the "World Christian Encyclopedia: A comparative survey of churches and religions - AD 30 to 2200," there are 19 major world religions which are subdivided into a total of 270 large religious groups, and many smaller ones. 34,000 separate Christian groups have been identified worldwide. ₁

These religions and faith groups teach very different belief systems. This naturally raises the question of where religious truth is to be found. To many believers, particularly religious conservatives, religious truth is of paramount importance. They believe  that one must be saved by embracing the truth before being eligible to avoid Hell and attain Heaven after death.

Many people regard their own denomination or faith group within their own religion to possess total religious truth; other denominations are seen to exhibit some error; other religions are often considered to be in serious error and are sometimes viewed as in opposition to the truth. Within evangelical Christianity, other religions are sometimes referred to as being led by Satan or some of his demons.

There are four main methods of viewing other denominations and religions:

Speaking generally, in most of the world's main religions:

Unfortunately, the term "religious pluralism" has other unrelated meanings.

Of course, if one evaluates a religion in practical areas, like its teachings on the status of women, on the status of sexual and racial minorities, etc., on the death penalty, on corporal punishment of children, promotion of religious freedom, promotion of religious oppression, etc. not all religions are equally "good."

Topics covered in this section:

Reference used in the above essay:

The hyperlinks below were used to prepare the above essay, but are not necessarily still valid today.

1. David B. Barrett, et al., "World Christian Encyclopedia : A Comparative Survey of Churches and Religions in the Modern World," Oxford University Press, (2001). Read reviews or order this book